Remember when...

Remember when you were a kid and you could rattle off every song, almost every lyric of your metal collection? I could tell you every song title off every cassette I had, release years, most lyrics, yadda yadda. Well ,it seems like I have lost this mystical power. I sometimes just refer to songs as "Track number X". It doesn't mean I like the music any less, I'm just not able to retain any new information for some reason.

Are some of you older guys the same way?

Oh yeah, I'm the same way. I can still remember tons of useless trivia about the bands/albums I listened to back in the day but don't seem to retain as much about the newer stuff. I guess I have more important stuff taking up most of the real estate in my brain and it doesn't leave much room for more recent metal trivia.

Too many other things going on and too many new albums. I remember
playing each new cassette I got until I almost wore them out. Nowadays,
I have cd's that I've listened to only a handful of times.

Quote :

Remember when you were a kid and you could rattle off every song, almost every lyric of your metal collection? I could tell you every song title off every cassette I had, release years, most lyrics, yadda yadda. Well ,it seems like I have lost this mystical power. I sometimes just refer to songs as "Track number X". It doesn't mean I like the music any less, I'm just not able to retain any new information for some reason.

Are some of you older guys the same way?

Exactly! I could have written that post....and FF's and TallT's.....I used to just sit down with my headphones and the lyrics and absorb it all. Of course, I only had about 100 cassettes to learn. Now my (even my meager) collection is too big and I can't just sit around reading lyrics. Other fun things to do!

But yeah, I think about that alot Spec. For me it was a point of pride to know every lyric...to own the albums.

yeah pretty much the same with me.I cant even remember half the cds I own anymore.I use to love sitting down and reading the inserts from cover to cover,now on alot of stuff I never take the booklet out of the case.

Glad I'm not the only one suffering from this.


Too many other things going on and too many new albums. I remember
playing each new cassette I got until I almost wore them out. Nowadays,
I have cd's that I've listened to only a handful of times.


I do this too, I am really only able to listen to music in the truck driving to and from work now. It's kind of a drag that life has taken over a part of life that I used to really enjoy. I need to re-evaluate some things and make more time for music and playing guitar again.

thrasher73 wrote:

yeah pretty much the same with me.I cant even remember half the cds I own anymore.

That's the precise reason I use rateyourmusic.com and started my site. I could never remember half of the stuff I have anymore.

I've got too many albums to be able to do that anymore, even though I still know tons of trivia about my favorites. Too much other crap going on now too, its ashame.

Of course I remember being able to rattle off all sorts of information regarding all the albums I own, who played what and who wrote what, but that superpower has been removed, I still can tell you every album I own but I could no longer tell you what year it was released, track order, hell in some instances I don't even remember song titles, needless to say being an adult is waaaaaaaay over rated

Right now I'm listening to Seventh Omen's ABSTRACT DESTINY. I've had this disc for a couple of months now and even though I like it a lot, listen to it pretty regularly, if it weren't playing right now I would'nt be able to tell you a single song title off of it.

However, if this were twenty years ago I'd know each and every song title off the top of my head, the exact running order of the album, who produced it, where the band was from, where they recorded it, the names of each musician, what they eat for breakfast, the artist who did the cover, etc., etc.

Wow, I was a major geek back then.

hahahaha sounds so familiar.

I'm exactly the same way, spec. And I've actually been meaning to start up a thread about it for a long time! haha

I miss those days. I was the same way about movies too. Knew all the actors, directors, producers, years of creation etc.

Now it's gotten so bad I even buy the same Cd's twice at times. And I keep forgetting what the last movie I saw was about too! lol

This thread has made me want to go invest on a walker!!!

manny wrote:

This thread has made me want to go invest on a walker!!!

Yeah, but I'm just glad I'm not the only one that has this condition.

I used to digest every lyric, read all the liner notes, etc. Now I usually never even pull the liner out of the CD. A lot of it has to do with the sheer volume of stuff I have now as opposed to 10 years ago too.

And I finally had my first accidental double buy last month. I forgot I already had Sammy Hagar's 10 Thirteen album.

Wow im almost as old as most of you are and I too have this problem but its because back in school all I cared about was music and I couldnt wait til school was over just so I could go home and listen to something. I would write bands names all over my note books, school books, tests, homework haha just about anything. Then I would sit and write each album I had of what band the year etc. We just dont do that now because we dont have that kind of freedom anymore where we dont have to worry about anything like money and working. Also look at our collections since then. I know mine has quadrupled (spelled that wrong, I think) in size since I was in school and that was only 11 years ago for me. If found a lot of great bands since then but for the most part I couldnt tell you whos in what band or what songs are on what albums. Im still good with years and album titles though. Ive never really been great with lyrics.

manny wrote:

This thread has made me want to go invest on a walker!!!

I like Phoenix's explaination best, we are not getting old, are collection is just 300x the size it was when were kids, we all have completeist disease not first signs of the on set of alzheimer's, I feel better already thank you Phoenix.

Tall Tyrion wrote:

Too many other things going on and too many new albums. I remember
playing each new cassette I got until I almost wore them out. Nowadays,
I have cd's that I've listened to only a handful of times.

Yea, that about covers it for me as well.

manny wrote:

I like Phoenix's explaination best, we are not getting old, are collection is just 300x the size it was when were kids, we all have completeist disease not first signs of the on set of alzheimer's, I feel better already thank you Phoenix.

Exaclty. No problem haha.......now how do I reply to this message again....crap!

I still remember all those magazines and other trivia I used to collect....... just to get the maximum information on bands and songs.

Like FF, said, there are more things going into the brain nowadays that push out or push aside other things. Also, when I was in HS I had about 200 cassettes. 15 years later, I still have those cassettes, but now have over 1000 cd's. There's a lot more to remember (but, in a good way).

Also, I remember there being a thread here a while ago regarding familiarity with one's collection (it might have even been spec who started it). I think that might have something to do with it also. As we buy more and more music, we have less and less time to really stay close to each cd, unless it becomes an instant classic/favorite for us.

Example: I love the band Ratt and own everything on cd. I am super familiar with the first 6 studio albums because I played the holy heck out of them when I got them, but the last two (Collage and Ratt) not so much. When they came out, I had a lot of other interests and they generally just never grabbed my attention all that much. So, I don't know them as well as the earlier albums. That happens to me every now and again. Peace.

i have way to much stuff to remember. cds are the least of my worries.

I agree with sentinel, when I was younger I had maybe 200 albums and tapes, now I own over 3000 cds alone (which probably represents some sort of insanity on my part)